fussy baby at night

Smoggy

My 3 week old breastfed baby is very happy during the day, but at night he strains and is gassy. He looks like he going for a poo, but isnt and squirms for 10-15 secs and then is fine for a while. in the last two days his poo has turned a darker green.

I might be worried over nothing, but it would be better for everyone if he wasnt squirmy at night.

How Strange

Talk to your public health nurse about the poo.

I'm breastfeeding and was told that if your baby doesnt settle the way you're describing he is reacting to something in the mothers diet. Dark green veg, cauliflower and garlic are the usual culprits as is dairy. I gave the lot up as my little lad used to get very unsettled at night and it worked. It does make the mothers diet restrictive though.

janmc

Mother's diet is a bit of a myth - see here for more info. That site is excellent for info on breast-feeding.

I was told by a Public Health nurse not to have any green vegetables, tomatoes, peppers or fizzy drinks as they would give the baby wind. In my exhausted state, I listened, avoiding basically all veg until I did a bit of research. Afterwards, I ate everything and my daughter was fine! I mean, fizzy drinks - did she think that the baby was going to have carbonated milk as a result?!

lynski

My now 16 wk old was like that for the first few weeks, and so were my other 2. I think some babies are just 'gassy'. they all got over it, my son at about 6wks or so. now he feeds for 10 mins, laughs for an hr, sleeps for 2 to 3 hrs and repeats all day. he is deadly.
Anyway, you could have an issue with supply, over supply that is, that is where i had issues. LLL is good for info, just google oversupply of milk and you may find it helpful.
The best thing I did for my little man was to allow infant-led latching, it solved my pain issue as well. basically nurse for a day or so in a semi-reclined position and allow the baby to root and latch themselves, with them in a more vertical position then horizontal. again google laidback nursing or infant-led latching - it is amazing.
Ooo sorry just remembered to add that one-sided feeding is crucial - too much fore-milk means gas. and also try to feed before they get too hungry, as soon as rooting starts.

How Strange

I disagree that the mothers diet affecting the baby is a myth. It perhaps doesn't affect every baby but my son was affected by me eating cabbage, asparagus, cream and cheese. We had a couples of days of awful wind and constant screaming because I ate hummus for two days in a row.

lasser

Mothers diet may or may not cause some discomfort technically we should be able to eat whatever we like but yes there are some foods that just may cause your lo some discomfort on dd1 I could not eat grapes they gave her really bad gas ds was fine no known problems with him and so far I am eating whatever I want with dd2 with no problems.
It could be oversupply fast let down
Oversupply: Too Much Milk (from http://www.breastfeedingbasics.com/html/oversupply.shtml )

Although concern about not having enough milk is the number one reason that mothers wean their babies early, having too much milk can also be a problem. When you consider the fact that a small percentage of women don't have the capacity to produce enough milk for their babies no matter what they do, then having too much milk is a relatively good breastfeeding problem to have, and is usually fairly easy to resolve.

Babies whose moms have too much milk will often exhibit symptoms such as fussing, pulling off the breast, colicky crying, gassiness, spitting up, and hiccupping. They may want to nurse frequently, and they may gain weight more rapidly than the average baby (who usually gains 4-8 ounces each week during the first 3 or 4 months), or they may gain weight more slowly than the average baby. Their stools may be green and watery, and their bottoms may be red and sore. The mother's letdown reflex may be so forceful that the baby chokes, gags and sputters as he struggles with the jet of milk that sprays too quickly into his mouth.

Mothers who produce too much milk may suffer from full, engorged breasts, plugged ducts, and mastitis. (See article on "Breast Infections and Plugged Ducts"). Sometimes they feel a few seconds of intense pain as the letdown (or milk ejection) reflex occurs, because it is so forceful.

The cause of the problem is usually a combination of an overactive letdown reflex along with a foremilk/hindmilk

Grawns

Sounds like a touch of colic to me. Don't know about the poo colour though. Bridget was breastfed and only pooped about once a week and it was yellow. Babies sometimes don't poop that much if breastfed. Do ask the nurse about it.

If it is colic and you'll know soon enough, order some gripe water online from the uk or get it up North. It's great for colicky babies.

Best of luck and enjoy your new baba

linute555

Hello Smoggy, my 2 week son is exactly the same. He's fine during the day time, i.e., sleeping for 2-3 hours then drinking my expressed milk,(my nipples need recovering), then doing the same till about 7 or 9. After that he'll stay awake till 3 in the morning all cranky and gassy. He acts like he's trying to poo or fart but nothing's coming out. I just don't understand how my breast milk affecting my baby differently during different times of day?!? Why night time?!? It's the same milk!

red fraggle

my little woman is EXACTLY the same. has all those symptoms ye are describing and is worse at night. afternoon seems to be the best. i do think i have oversupply and am tryin the more vertical feeding as soon as she wakes. i also got infacol and she is burping more but is still fussing/crying/trying to poo. might move on to gripe water in a few days and see if that works better.

linute555

Apparently gripe water is out of the market unless you get it from the North. Some mothers swear by infacol. Trying that myself. Will see.
Also I was told about this "baby whisperer" in county Clare. (I live near by) Who works magic with babies by massaging them. I'll try contacting her .Has anybody heard about similar techniques?

Moonbeam

Gripe water is available in the south again.
Infacol and colief are good.
Talk to your phn though.

JimsAlterEgo

Moonbeam wrote: »

Gripe water is available in the south again.
Infacol and colief are good.
Talk to your phn though.

Officially or you can get it some places?

ceadaoin.

My daughter was like this for a couple of weeks too. I tried Infacol which helped a bit, it has an accumulative effect so takes a couple of days to work.

My partner used to hold her face down with her body along his forearm in the football hold and this helped her. Also laying her down on my lap and moving her legs in a cycling movement helped her get the wind or poo out.

After a while she just stopped fussing in the evenings. If it happens now we use gripe water which does work better. It says on the bottle that the baby has to be 1 month old before using it

red fraggle

i was able buy gripe water in a local village shop in wexford!!

i gave my 4 week old a small bit of gripe water last night and she was NOT impressed. the face on her and she spluttered. just wondering do you give her the 5ml or do you give them less? 5ml seems like alot. i will try again if she stil seems to be windy and fussing. also any tricks for helping the hiccups??

ceadaoin.

red fraggle wrote: »

i was able buy gripe water in a local village shop in wexford!!

i gave my 4 week old a small bit of gripe water last night and she was NOT impressed. the face on her and she spluttered. just wondering do you give her the 5ml or do you give them less? 5ml seems like alot. i will try again if she stil seems to be windy and fussing. also any tricks for helping the hiccups??

I use the small end of the spoon and give her 2 doses of 2.5ml, otherwise it ends up all down her front! She doesn't seem to mind the taste, I got the Boots own brand one and it just tastes like really sweet water.

I wish I knew how to get rid of the hiccups, my little one gets them all the time